lv-primeau



A. LI'PRIMEAU. HEADLIGHT CONSTRUCTION. AFPLlCAT'fON FILED DEC. 13 I917- Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

mum/r012 ,y/r A rromv rs A. L. PRIMEAU.

HEADLIGHT CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICAHON FILED DEC.I3- l9l7.

Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 IIIIIIIIIL INVENTOR /xs ATTORNEYS ARTHUR L. PRIMEAU, F ILION, NEW YORK.

' HEADLIGHT CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Sept. as, rare.

Application filed December 13, 1917. Serial No. 206,889.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR L. PRIMEAU, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Ilion, county of Herkimer, State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Headlight Constructions, of

which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to head light construction for use upon automobiles but it will be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to a construction that is used upon automobiles as it may be employed for other uses, for example in light houses or other places where a concentrated light is desired at one time and where a diflused light is desired at another time.

According to the present invention there is employed a concentrating head light reflector, such as a reflector of the parabolic or elliptical type, and there is associated with this reflector an electric lamp having two operative positions with respect to the reflector. In one of these positions the lamp, or more accurately speaking the lamp filament, is located at a focus of the reflector whereby the reflected light will be concentrated. In the other of these positions the lamp is away from the focus of the reflector and the light reflected is not concentrated, or in other words is diffused. With this construction the lamp can be constantly lighted by a uniform and constant flow of electrical energy which causes the filament to have a uniform constant brilliancy but the brightness and intensity of the reflected light is dependent upon the position of the lamp relative to the reflector.

The invention is also directed to the construction and arrangement of parts and means whereby a practical and commercial construction is enabled to be realized. The invention relates to the features above referred to as well as to other features heroinafter more fully set forth in the specification and the accompanyin claims.

As illustrating a speci c embodiment of the invention reference is made to the drawings forming a part of the specification and in which drawings Figure 1 is a vertical view partially in side elevation and partially in longitudinal section, of a head light construction cmbodying the invention.

Fig. 2,,is a vertical cross sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line 22 of Fig. 1 looking in the, direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a wiring diagram showing the manner of supplying the electrical energy to the movable lamp. In this figure there is indicated certain electro-magnets employed to control the position of the lamp and there is illustrated the manner in which these electro-magnets are connected with the source of electrical energy.

Fig. i is a side elevation showing the arrangement of parts which can be employed to mechanically position the lamp.

A main frame or casing member is designated by 1 and in this there is the usual head light reflector member 2herein referred to as the reflectorhaving associated therewith the electric lamp 3. A glass 4 is located at the front of the head light construction to protect both the reflector and the lamp from the elements. The reflector 2 is of the concentrating type for example a parabolic reflector, but an elliptical reflector in which the main axis of the ellipse is relatively long can be used. The reflector has thereupon, or has connected thereto, the bearing member 5 upon or within which the shank 6 of the lamp is slidably mounted. When the lamp occupies 'the position shown in Fig. 1 the filament 7 thereof is located ahead of the focus point 8 of the reflector. It will hereinafter appear that the lamp can move to a rearward position where the filament 7 can occupy the dotted position shown in Fig. 1, in other words, where the lamp. can occupy a position with the filament located at the focus 8 of the reflector. When the head light construction is in use performing its functions there will be emitted concentrated reflected rays if the lamp occupics its rearward position, viz-if the filament is at the focal point 8, and there will be emitted non-concentrated raysmore or less diffused raysif the lamp occupies its forward position, vizwith,c the filament away from the focal point 8. It will therefore be observed that concentrated rays or diffused rays are obtainable at will by merely positioning the lamp relative to the reflector without cutting off or diminishing the electrical energy supplied to the lamp, in other words, the filament of the lamp maintains a constant uniform brilliancy.

There is shown in the drawings twoways of changing the position of the lamp relative to the reflector. One of these is an electrical meansmagnetic means-clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and the other is a mechanical control means shown in Fig. 4 as ,well as in Figs. 1 and 2. In Figs. 1 and 2 prises a lever 10. The fulcrum member,

designated 11, is carried at the outer end of a bracket 12 connected to the reflector 2. An adjusting screw 13 is swiveled at 14 to the fulcrum member 11 and has a screw engagement at 15 with the casing member 1. This adjusting screw can be relied upon to position the fulcrum member relative to the bracket so that the filament of the light relative to the reflector can be positioned with a n-icety-of adjustment. A look nut 16 is provided to clamp the adjusting screw 13 in a position when the adjustment has been made. The lever construction 9 may be con sidered as a double lever having an upwardly extending arm u and two longitudinally extending arms a and b and as made up of parts 9 and 9". The forward longitudinally extending arm a is arranged to cooperate with a magnet FM herein referred to as a forward magnet, while the rear longitudinally extending arm 6 is arranged to cooperate with a magnet BM, herein referred toss the backward magnet. When the magnet EM is energized it attracts the arm a thus moving the light through the medium of said double lever 9 to the forward position where the filament is away from the focus of the reflector and the magnet holds the lamp in this position until the magnet is deenergized. Correspondingly when the magnet BM is energized it attracts the arm I) of the double lever 9 and thus moves the lamp to its rearward position where the filament '3 will be at the focus 8 of the reflector. The double lever 9, which comprises the parts 9 and 9 engage pins 17 and 17 thatare on the shank of the lamp and these pins serve to connect the double lever 9 and the lamp or at least serves to provide a construction whereby the double lever 9 and the lamp are operatively associated. The lever 10 is as previously stated pivotally mounted at :2: upon the'fulcrum member 11. llhe upper end of this lever 10 is forked and provides the spaced upward extensions '18 and .19 that are located upon opposite sides of the pin 17*. The forked construction at the upper end of lever 10 permits the lamp to be positioned by the electrical means without moving the lever 10. A rod. 20 is connected to the lower end of this lever and is under the manual control of an operator whereby should the electric means that includes the forward and backward magnets just referred to become inoperative the mechanical means that includes the lever 10 could be employed to position the lamp.

The electrical system receives the electrical energy from the source of power S and when the light switch LS is closed a constant uniform amount of electrical energy is supplied to the light 3 over the following circuits: S, 21, 22, 23, light 3, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, fixed contact 29 of the light switch, movable contact 30 of the light switch, 40, 41 to S. This switch LS is always closed when the head light is being used.

When it is desired to have the filament- 7 of the electriclight away from the focal point 8 of the reflector 2 then the forward magnet FM is energized, this being accomplished by turning the hand switch HS so that the movable contact C thereof will engage the fixed contacts 42 and-43.

When the movable contact C of the hand switch occupies the position just referred to then the circuit which is completed and which'includes the forward magnet FM is as follows: S, 21, 44, 45, 46, forward magnet FM, 47 48, 49, 50, 42, movable contact (3, 43, 51, 52, 53, 55 ms.

When it is desired to have the electric light occupy its rearward position relative to the reflectorwith the filament 7 at the focal point 8 of the reflector then the backward magnet BM is energized. This is accomplished by turning the hand switch HS A so that the movable contact C thereof will engage the contacts 53 and 54 and the circuit thus completed is as follows: S, 21, 56, backward magnet BM, 57, 58, 59, fixed contact 54, movable contact C, fixed contact 53, 55 to s.

From what has preceded it will be mamfest that when the backward magnet BM is energized the lamp 3 will be held in its rearward position. At this time the adjusting'screw 13 can be employed to adjust the fulcrum member along the bracket and thus adjust the lamp so that the incandescent filament of the lamp can be properly .positioned in the focus of the reflector should cupies and that the lamp remains lighted when in its forward position, when in its backward position and also when traveling to and from said ositions. From What has preceded it will al o be manifest that should the forward or backward magnets be rendered functionally inoperative for any reason then the hand operating means could be employed to position the lamp and to hold it both in any desired position relative to the reflector.

The improvements herein set forth are not limited to the precise construction and arrangement shown and described for they may be embodied in various forms and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. A head light construction comprising in combination a. head light reflector, an electric lamp associated therewith but movable relative thereto, a bracket connected to the reflector, a fulcrum member on said bracket, adjusting means for positioning the fulcrum member along the bracket, and a lever pivotally mounted upon said fulcrum member, which lever is connected to said lamp.

2. An apparatus of the class described, comprising in combination a reflector having a bearing member, an electric lamp having a shank slidably mounted upon said bearing member, a fulcrum member adjustable relative to the reflector, a lever pivotally mounted on said fulcrum member and electrical means for positioning said lever,

which lever engages the shank whereby the positioning of the lever positions the electric lam 3. An apparatus of the class described comprising in combination a reflector, an electric lamp associated therewith, which lamp has a shank, a fulcrum member connected to the reflector, a double lever pivotally mounted on said fulcrum member which lever engages the shank of said lamp and has a plurality of arms, and a pair of magnets, one operatively associated with one of said arms and the other operatively associated with the other of said arms.

4:. An apparatus of the class described comprising in combination a head light reflector having a bearing member associated therewith, an electric light slidably mounted on said bearing member, a fulcrum member positioned with respect to the reflector, a lever pivotally mounted upon the fulcrum member, the construction being such that the fulcrum point of the lever is adjustable, which lever is connected to said lamp so as to move the filament of the lamp to and from a focus of the reflector, and means for actuating said lever.

5. An apparatus of the class described comprising in combination a reflector, a lamp, movable to different operative positions in respect to the reflector, which lamp has a shank with a pin or pins projecting'from the shank, means for supply ing electrical energy to said lamp, an electrically controlled lever that engages said pin or pins and holds the lamp in said different positions, and a manually operated forked member for moving the lamp to said different positions in case the electrical means fails to function, the forked member being constructed so that it permit-s the lamp to be positioned by the electrical means without moving the forked member.

This specification signed and witnessed this 10th da} of December, A. D. 1917.

ARTHUR L. PRIMEAU.

Signed in the presence of VICTOR ADAMS, Sn, H. NILE EDDY. 

